Cleansing

by Roy A. Teel, Jr.

  It was half past eleven when Charlotte’s phone rang. She looked at the caller ID, and it was Lisa. She answered the phone and asked, “Where are you, child? The hour of delivery is almost upon us.” “F. E. has taken the child, Charlotte. He said that you have found him a wonderful home.” “Oh yes, Lisa, yes, Jesus is going to a wonderful home. He is going to be a blessing to many.” “Okay, well F. E. said that he has two women coming up to deliver Jesus to you. I asked if I could come, but he said no.” Charlotte’s voice was soft as she spoke to Lisa, “It’s better that you cut ties with Jesus. I know you’re not a mother, but I also know that you love children and how attached you get. I’m sure the women that F.E. has chosen understand the importance of this situation. You rest well, child, and thank you for calling me.”

  Lisa hung up and looked at Sara and Barbara and said, “Okay…you’re on.” The two women left the house with the baby in one of John’s four-wheel drive vehicles. Barbara asked as they started up Cora Canyon Road, “How the hell are we supposed to find the goddamn cabin?” Sara said, “All I was told is we can’t miss it.” They drove up the bumpy dirt road until off in the distance they saw a light coming from high on the hillside. Sara pointed and kept driving until they came to a small turnout right in front of the light, which turned out to be a fire.

  The two women drove up the road until they could see the lights of a cabin. They parked fifty feet from the cabin just as Jim had told them to do. Jim was up there somewhere, but there was no sign of him or the Eagle. Barbara told Sara to wait in the truck, and she got out and walked in front of the headlights of the vehicle and to the front door of the cabin. She went to knock, but the door opened on its own.

  Standing in front of her was a robed figure with candles burning on every surface in the cabin. The female voice asked, “How do you come?” “In peace to the master and in the cleansing blood of our Lord and savior,” Barbara responded. “Your obedience to His majesty is noted. Where is the child?” “Jesus is in the vehicle, and we are prepared to bring him up to the altar.” “Bring me the child. I must inspect him for perfection.” “F. E. has already inspected the child, and he awaits your arrival at the altar where the child will be presented unto the Lord.”

  Charlotte raised her hooded head. Her eyes were like two burning flames from the reflection of the candlelight, and it startled Barbara, and Charlotte saw it. “Bring the child to me!” Barbara saw a glint of silver flash in the candlelight, and she moved back but not before the blade caught her and she fell backward.

  Jim was on the far side of the house when he saw Barbara and Sara pull up in the four-wheel drive. He was standing on the edge of the porch and watched as Barbara interacted with Charlotte. He could not hear what was being said, but he could tell by Barbara’s body language that she was scared. He saw the flash of silver light and Barbara fall backward, and he pulled his weapon and moved in to protect her. As he ran across the porch, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his left leg and fell to the ground as the barbs of a trip wire struck him across the back of his legs. He called out to Barbara, who was crawling across the ground trying to get back to the truck. Sara saw the whole thing unfold and opened the driver’s side door and ran to Barbara’s aid.

  The Eagle had made his way down to the cabin, and he saw Barbara crawling toward the truck. He saw Jim on the ground near the entrance and Sara moving in their direction. He also saw the flash of steel and knew immediately that Charlotte was wielding a knife and that she knew how to use one.

  She had stepped out of the front door in a long, golden, hooded robe and was walking slowly toward Barbara. The Eagle made a quick break for her as she raised the knife in her hand and prepared to drive it down into Sara, who had thrown her body over Barbara as a shield. Jim was crying out from the front porch, trying to pull the barbed wire out of his legs. Charlotte moved to strike when her hand stopped in mid-swing.

  She turned to see the face of the Eagle staring back at her, and she made an offensive move with her other hand and struck the Eagle in the breast plate with a second knife. The steel plate in the Eagle’s body armor sent the blade back into Charlotte’s shoulder. He lifted her off the ground and threw her across the lot where she landed on the second blade and laid motionless. Jim had managed to free himself from the wire and ran as best he could to Barbara. The Eagle towered over all of them as he pulled Barbara into the gleam of the headlights.

  Sara looked down at the wound. Blood was all over Barbara’s clothing. She slumped down against the truck, and Sara ripped Barbara’s top open and saw that she had been struck in the chest. Small amounts of blood were pouring from the wound along with a clear substance. Sara called the men to take her into the cabin, and they laid her on a sofa inside. The Eagle pulled a flashlight off his belt and shined it into Barbara’s wound. She had been slashed across her left breast. For a fraction of an instant, all things were in slow motion.

  Sara reached down and put her finger into the wound and drew back to check the liquid. She called out to Barbara, who had her eyes closed, and then Barbara looked up at their faces and said, “She got me in my boob job!” Jim was silent then looked down at Barbara and asked, “She hit your implants?” Barbara nodded, sitting up on the couch. “Yeah…ten thousand dollars down the drain. I’m okay. It’s just a flesh wound.” There was a moment of levity but only a moment.

  The Eagle saw Charlotte dragging her right leg with the knife in her right hand as she walked up the hill toward the altar with Jesus in her left hand. The cry from Ezra broke the moment, and the Eagle and Jim bolted out the front door in pursuit. Jim cried out to the Eagle, “She’s got the fuckin’ kid.” Jim pulled his service weapon and aimed it at Charlotte, who turned in her bloody robe and put the knife to Jesus’ throat.

  “One move…Officer…and the kid dies here and now.” Her tone was cold but weak. The Eagle was nowhere to be seen, and she kept climbing the hill, slowly walking sideways with Jim limping behind her. She held the knife firmly against the baby’s neck, and Jim could see the slightest trickle of blood. Jim called to her and said, “I will put away my weapon if you will take the knife away from the child’s throat.” He raised his hand and set the weapon on the ground.

  Charlotte pulled the knife away from Jesus’ neck and said, “You mortal fool. Do you think that you can stop the second coming of our Lord? I am not of this world, and in a few moments the final sacrifice will be accomplished, and it will usher in the terrible day of the Lord who will judge the quick and the dead.” Jim followed, talking to her in a calm voice, “I don’t think that God would want you to destroy one of his children.” She turned and looked at Jim and said, “This is Jesus Emmanuel. His middle name means ‘God with us.’ You foolish, foolish man. In a moment, I will be caught up in the sky with my Lord and savior to judge you and all of mankind as it has been foretold in the scripture.”

  Jim was about to say something else when the light of the fire was eclipsed, and Charlotte turned to see what had stolen the light only to be grabbed by the throat by the Eagle. He pulled her in close and took the child from her hands. She was gagging and struggling as she dangled in the air. The Eagle handed the child to Jim and said, “Leave us!”

  Jim limped down the hill toward the cabin as the Eagle climbed the rest of the way up with Charlotte by the throat. She swung and struggled against the Eagle’s grip, and the more she struggled the less air she got. She was nearly unconscious when the Eagle crested the hill overlooking the sea and threw her onto the ground. He lifted a large log, and Charlotte stared in horror as the log dropped into a hole between two huge boulders, and there on the log, tied by their hands, feet, and throats, were Hess, Arnest, Walton, and both of the Estonias, all stripped nude and bloody.

  The Eagle grabbed her by the arm, and her robe swung open. She was nude underneath it, and he ripped the robe off her body and threw her on the ground in front of the post. She landed in a patch of cactus and screamed. He gr
abbed her and said, “Room for one more!” He tied her arms and legs to the pole with the others then ran a strip of wire across her throat. She was unable to move, and the Eagle walked back in front of the small altar fire and began to pile dead trees and dry brush all around the post.

  When he finished, he rose up and stood at the altar with a bottle in his hand with a piece of cloth coming out of the end of it and said, “May you be a welcome offering to your God and MAY HE NOT HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOULS!” And with those words, the Eagle lit the cloth and hurled the bottle with all of his might. It smashed against the wood, and everything exploded in flames.

  The Eagle watched as the fire lapped at the feet and thighs of the victims. Their screams were clear as the flames rose higher and higher up their bodies. He stood and watched as the flames consumed their offering and drowned out their screams and cries until the heat of the fire was so strong that he had to step away. He allowed it to burn until embers were starting to rise, and the six people were unrecognizable.

  The fire burned through the ropes and the wire, and the bodies crumpled into the cinders of white hot wood at their feet. He looked at Charlotte as the flames were dying down. Her face and body were burned black, but to his surprise she opened one eye as the last rope broke after being burned off of her, and she lifted what remained of her left arm in salute to some unseen entity, then it fell into the hot coals underneath her.

  The Eagle walked by the fire pit until the coals were nothing but smoldering embers. The night had passed, and the sun was beginning to rise as he stood on the top of the mountain and looked out over the sea. He turned to see the sun break the horizon and said as he walked back to his truck, “Welcome to hell, if such exists.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Just when I think I have seen it all,

  something new comes along.”

  The sun was up over the Malibu hills, and Sara was sitting on a lounge chair off the master bedroom by the pool. She heard John walk in and take a shower. She waited with a cup of coffee between her fingers and was sipping it when John walked out with a Coke Zero in his hand and sat down, nude, next to her. “Is it over?” she asked “Are Barbara and Jim going to be okay?” “Yes…Jim got it worse than Barb. I patched them both up, and she will see one of my plastic surgeons this afternoon. Jim, on the other hand, is pissed. Not that he got barbed wire in his legs from a booby trap at the cabin, but because Barbara’s breasts are his second favorite attribute.” John laughed. “Yeah, well, she will get a better set, and he will be even happier for it.” Sara laughed and looked out over the sea.

  “Is it over, John?” “Is this situation over? Yes. They are all dead. The children are safe, and the Richards Family is dead and burned up. Is the violence that engulfs a city, the savageness of man against man, over? No. I have watched the rise and fall of some sick people in my career, but this one has to take the cake.” Sara sipped her coffee and said, “As you always say, ‘Just when I think I have seen it all, something new comes along.’ Isn’t that right, honey?” She didn’t need a response. The question was rhetorical. “I know that there are worse people out there, and that the Iron Eagle will continue with his one man campaign and rage against the violence. I also know that John and the Eagle are getting tired and sooner rather than later something has to give.”

  John sat silent behind her. When Sara had finished, John said, “There is a breaking point for everyone, but I don’t know if there’s one for the Eagle.”

  Rampage

  The Iron Eagle Series: Book Nine

  Prologue

  “Kick the mother fucker’s again. Come on, Johnny, kick the mother fuckers again.” Rocky Marks was yelling to Johnny Belk, who was kicking three boys who were huddled on the ground covering their heads and sides for protection. “They’re freaks, man. A bunch of faggots. Beat their asses.” Billy Stone was yelling as he ran and joined the beating. Rocky had his phone in his hand and was shooting video and laughing loudly as the three motionless boys lie on the ground, receiving blow after blow. Rocky called out, “Fuck, man, I wish Brian was here to see this. He is going to be so pissed that we kicked their asses without him.”

  Debbie Atwater sat off on a school bench watching the fight unfold and looking around for her own attackers, who she knew were looking for her after she ran from their aggressive behavior. Debbie was paying attention to her friends, so she didn’t see Greta Harold and Beth Sanchez come around the back of the bungalow at Reseda High School. The two girls were standing out of Debbie’s line of sight as she sat with tears in her eyes.

  Billy finally stopped kicking at the three on the ground as did Johnny, and the two joined their friends back at a school table in a far back corner. Johnny Belk, Rocky Marick, and Billy Stone all sat down, sweaty and out of breath, yelling obscenities at the three boys they had just soundly beaten. Rocky was pressing buttons on his phone, and Johnny asked, “What the fuck…what are you doing?” Rocky was laughing and said, “Oh, man, this is going on Internet video right now. Man, this is great! I’m uploading it now. It’s so fuckin’ cool!”

  Tim Elliott got to his feet and walked over to help his friend, Alan Marks, up off the ground. The third boy, Mark Rubio, was getting to his feet, seemingly unfazed by the beating. Of the three boys, Mark was much more mature in his appearance. He was six two and two hundred and fifty pounds. He was an intimidating looking kid, but he was not a fighter. The three skulked back to the “nerd” table as it was known on campus where what was left of their destroyed and eaten lunches were scattered on the table and the ground.

  Debbie got up to go over and join them when she was hit in the back of the head with something. She turned to see Greta and Beth running in her direction, and she headed for the boys’ table. The two pursuers never bothered her if she was with the boys. Debbie got to the table and sat down. Greta and Beth walked up to the table and looked at them. Beth said, “It figures you would hide with your nerd friends, you little bitch. Why don’t you stand up and fight?” Debbie just looked down at the ground, and the boys looked at her. Greta made another derogatory comment, and the two girls walked off. She could be overheard saying, “We will kick her ass after school. I know where the little bitch lives, and she walks home, so we can catch her and then fuck her up.” Just as the two went out of earshot, the lunch bell rang. It was time to head back to class.

  Sheriff Jim O’Brian had finished up with some last minute duties and was getting ready to head for a Los Angeles County board of supervisors meeting when his phone rang. “O’Brian.” “Good afternoon, Sheriff!” The cheerful voice of Special Agent John Swenson was not a welcome sound to O’Brian’s ears. “Oh, mother fucker, what do you want?” “Why do I have to want something to call one of my best friends?” Jim held the phone away from his face and yelled into it, “I’M NOT YOUR BEST FUCKIN’ FRIEND, JOHN, AND IF I AM YOU NEED TO GET A DAMN LIFE! What…do…you…want?” John laughed and said, “I need your help.” “No…no…absolutely not, no fuckin’ way…you can die for all I care. No more help.”

  “Relax…it’s a public service campaign that the FBI is putting on with local law enforcement, and I’ve been asked by the higher ups in Washington to get support from city and county leaders. You are still the Sheriff of LA County, right?” Jim let out a sigh of relief and said, “It’s fucking September. Only for four more fuckin’ months, and then I’m retired. So what do you want with me?” “We’re working on an anti-bullying campaign, and I thought who better to work with me on it than you?”

  Jim looked at his phone again and said, “John Swenson is going to work on an anti-bullying campaign?” “Yeah…what’s wrong with that?” Jim just shook his head, taking a cigarette out of his left top pocket and putting it into his mouth. He was walking down the stairs of his office building to the smoker’s bench and said snapping his Zippo shut and taking a hit off the lit cigarette, “Yeah, whatever. What do you need from me?” “Sara has invited you a
nd Barbara over for dinner tonight. We can talk about it more then.” The line went dead, and Jim sat smoking his cigarette and looking up at the buildings of downtown Los Angeles. He looked down at his watch. It was four thirty p.m. His phone buzzed with a text message from Barbara telling him to be home by six for dinner. He replied with, ‘I know,’ and sat down on the bench to finish his smoke.

  Reseda High School had just let out for the day, and Brian Donaldson was picking on several students with Johnny, Rocky and Billy. The four walked out the entrance onto the street, and Brian said, “Fuck, man, if I hadn’t had a doctor’s appointment I would have so liked to have been there to kick the shit out of those pussies.” Rocky said, “Don’t worry. There’s always tomorrow. It’s not like we’re gonna run out of faggots to beat up.” Brian laughed and said, “Yeah…but that’s in the future. I want to kick their asses now.” Brian slugged Rocky in the arm hard. “Make sure I know what you’re going to do before you do it.” Rocky nodded his head, holding his arm, and Brian said, “We have football practice. You guys go on ahead. I have to meet someone about some weed.” The three ran on headed for the varsity football locker room as Brian walked out to the bleachers at the far end of the football field to collect his pot.